Mom and Dad ties the knot!! Yay!!

After so many years, my parents finally were able to have their wedding. Attended by immediate family and friends, the happy couple ties the knot and exchange vows. The pics shows the young couple surrounded by those who love and care for them. Big party after..

Letran High School Class of 1979

Holy cow! I was reading my classmates' FB pages and one of them has a link to a batch website.  It took me a while to find my old class photo but eventually found the group.  Kelly asked me what the deal was with our ties.. back then, the larger you could tie your knot, the cooler you were!  Hey, that was the style then.  Ok, try and spot me..

Facebook

I finally gave in and joined Facebook.  It took a few discussions with people to convince me that I might be missing out connecting with old family and friends.  The other thing is that I always like the idea of having monopoly of what's being posted to a 'wall' - just like in Blogger.  I can write whatever and having control whether let comments post or not. Eline seemed excited I'm on Facebook and to be honest, I am.  I've found some classmates I'm trying to reconnect with and hope to be chatting soon.  One thing's for sure, I do not see letting the blogger go anytime soon..

Goodbye to an old friend!

13 years later, we've decided to let my '97 Ford Explorer go to make way for a new car for Kelly.  The Explorer was bought here in Texas, was shipped to California in '01, then driven back to Texas in '04.  I remember when I had it brought over to California that my friends frowned upon my having an SUV- a gas-guzzling, road-hugging, parking spot hog, too-big-of-a-car for California's green mentality.  It was great because I could look over cars when sitting in traffic and tell what might be causing it.  By the time it had made its way back to Texas, every other person already drove bigger SUV's.  I was back to square one.  Oh well.  As time went by, it would sit in the garage during work days as I took the bike to work instead.  Its purpose only to be used when Kelly couldn't pick up the goose or something big and heavy needed to be transported.  The transmission has started slipping and the air conditioner went out.  (Not good if you live here.)  Its been a good run.  This car will be missed.  Bye old friend!!

Happy Birthday Kelly!!

Birthday weekend for Kelly.  She turned __ today!  Friday dinner went for sushi.  Saturday dinner with her family at Samui Thai.  Breakfast at our regular brunch restaurant, Lil' Gus' both days.  Cousins Blake and Morgan spent the weekend with us one after the other and were very excited with Shiloh.  The goose was a bit jealous because the girls were trying to hoard the little dog.  I kept telling her that they're just excited because they don't have one.  Besides, she gets to see him everyday when her cousins will only see Shiloh when they come over.
Kelly wanted a sink for her birthday so we got her a stainless one to replace the white cast iron sink we've had for the last few years.

before ...

and after..

Fallen Mango Tree

This past week, tropical storm Basyang went though the Philippines bringing strong winds and a lot of rain.  Our mango tree which was planted roughly twenty years ago was uprooted.  I remember when it was planted.  When it fell, it was close to 40 feet in height.  Thank goodness it fell away and towards the fence.  The size of it could have easily damaged the main part of the house if it fell the other way. It will be missed.

Goose went to camp!

Katharine went to camp a month ago for a week.  Found these pictures in my Blackberry.  Sky Ranch is in Van, TX.  First time we had to decorate the car for this.  If you do, you get a cookie basket or something.  Camp is 1 hour and 45 minutes away so part of the afternoon was spent driving.

Catch-up

New member of the family - Shiloh or Bean. The goose decided on the latter but I happen to like Shiloh better.  The dog is a Toy Fox Terrier and is about 10 weeks old.  Quite fun.  "One thing dog, I am the alpha male! Got it?"

Katharine's Project (No. 2)

Somehow, she got her Poppy to make the wigwam.  I went to their house and he was working on this contraption on top of the kitchen island.  I asked Kelly why we weren't working on it and she stated that her mom got her dad to do it.  We'll see how it turns out.

The goose will be wearing an american-indian outfit.  Cute!

Crawfish!!

Kelly and I have a new passion.. crawfish!  The goose had a sleepover Saturday so we went to Nate's for some seafood.  It is amazing how we've come to love crawfish.  You start off with a couple of pounds then realize that all that weight is shell and stuff you do not eat.  I think you only get about 1/2 a pound of food.  Somehow, I also thought they were year-round but I was wrong.  Our server said that the season ends sometime in late May till mid-June.  Messy but yummy.

Day 3 of Skiing

Kelly and I took Monday and Tuesday off as our not-so-young-as-we-thought bodies were experiencing pains and aches we haven't had in a long time.  The girls somehow continue to go to their ski school and are not having any aches at all.  We decided to rejoin the girls on Wednesday instead.

We're going skiing!!

Friday evening we packed our bags, rented a minivan, borrowed a yakima and headed East towards New Mexico.  Our plan was to drive till midnight hoping to hit Amarillo but ended in Childress instead. That's what happens if you leave Plano at 8PM.  Saturday morning, we stopped at The Big Texan to have breakfast. 
this is the home of the 72-inch steak where if you can eat it all within an hour, you get it for free.  Nope, I never even entertained the idea of having one so early in the day. We brought one of Katharine's classmate and close friend Catherine with us.

Mom's advice

I told Kelly last night that I had complained to my mom that the goose recently stated she is not a little girl anymore and should not be treated as such especially in public.  Though this request is expected, she also stated that public display of affection needs to be toned down as well.  What?? I'm so used to the hand-holding, kiss-you-in-the-forehead thing, put-my-arm-around-you kind.. and now it needs to be in check??  Dangit!  My little girl isn't a little girl anymore.  I didn't think it would be this soon but it was going to happen one way or another.  I suppose I can live with that.  Mom stated that Uli had gone thru the same thing when Ina was this age.  Though it had been a couple of years for him, its only my first couple of months.  Her advice was to basically deal with it.  There is no stopping the goose' growing.  Man, this is one heck of a transition for me..